On Thursday 10th November, the Reading Ambassadors attended the 2022 Oxfordshire Book Awards ceremony at Magdalen College School in Oxford. With three years since the last live ceremony, it was especially exciting to see the hall full of hundreds of students coming together to celebrate reading.

Former DGS Patron of Reading and award-winning author Jo Cotterill hosted the awards, which featured the talents of many authors and illustrators, including a magic trick, a live song (accompanied by acoustic guitar), a draw-along and delicious cakes!

Students saw the awards presented to the winning authors in three categories: Picture Book, Junior Novel and Secondary Novel. Jo entertained everyone with her reading of Nadia Shireen's Highly Commended picture book 'Barbara Throws a Wobbler'; Onjali Q Rauf inspired everyone with the powerful story of empathy behind 'The Night Bus Hero'; Sam Usher led students on a draw-along via zoom and Phil Earle videocalled in to the hall to accept his award for Best Secondary Novel for When The Sky Falls.

The event was a huge success - a fantastic way to celebrate and promote reading to hundreds of students from across the county.